Glimmer Vale Chronicles

Raedrick Baletier and Julian Hinderbrook are two swordsmen on the run from their past. When they stop in Lydelton, a small fishing town in the remote valley called Glimmer Vale, they find the town besieged by a ruthless band of brigands. Worse, the brigands have taken up station in the mountain passes, blocking the two friends’ escape. With no way around the brigands and no option of returning the way they came, Julian and Raedrick accept an offer of employment. Their mission: defeat the brigands and restore peace to Glimmer Vale.

They are outnumbered at least twenty to one, long odds even if they recruit help. But that help may not be enough when the specter of their past rears its head, forcing Julian and Raedrick to openly face what they are fleeing or risk losing not just their freedom but the lives and fortunes of Lydelton’s inhabitants.

A series of brutal murders has shocked the normally quiet town of Lydelton. With no idea of the culprit’s identity, or even how the murders were committed, the townsfolk have become suspicious of each other, teetering on the edge of panic. As the town Constables, Raedrick and Julian must put a stop to the murders and bring the killer to justice.

Somehow.

Before they can do that, the arrival of a member of the Magestirium poses another dilemma. Because their friend Melanie is a mage, in violation of the laws forbidding women from practicing the magical arts, and the Magestirium’s wrath against those who break their laws is legendary.

But protecting their friend’s secret while saving the town from a horrifying killer may not be possible, since defeating this killer will require every resource Lydelton can muster.

Winter in Glimmer Vale – a time to remain close to shelter or, preferably, indoors. Most definitely not a time to brave the mountain peaks surrounding the valley. Raedrick and Julian certainly have no intention of doing so until a man from their past, nearly dead from exposure, appears at the outskirts of Lydelton. Once recovered, he tells them of his friend who lies injured on the flank of Tollard’s Peak, the tallest mountain in the region. Unable to ignore the stranded fellow’s need, the two Constables form a party to rescue him.

But there is more to the story than it first appeared, and very soon Raedrick and Julian find themselves struggling against far more than the elements as they brave the perilous peak. It will take all of their strength and resolve to survive their quest and get to the bottom of the mystery that drew these men into the bleak cold of the mountainside. And they are not the only ones who are searching.

A stunning robbery threatens to bring Lydelton’s economy to its knees, and it is up to Julian and Raedrick to find the culprits. With the year’s first trading caravan in town and the missing funds needed for vital transactions, time is of the essence. Fortunately, the Constables have assistance int he form of a team of Royal Marshalls, in town for a prisoner transfer. But they have an agenda of their own, and Raedrick and Julian must tread carefully to avoid revealing the secret of their own past.

With few leads and little time, the Constables will need to use all of their skill and wit to solve the case and save their adopted town from ruin.

It’s three hours until the wedding of Raedrick Baletier to Lani Millens, and Melanie Klemins doesn’t have a present for them. Not for lack of trying. She had an enchantment all ready to go for Raedrick’s new cloak, but one simple mistake sent the cloak flying away out the window under its own power.

So now it’s up to Julian Hinderbrook to find the cloak and retrieve it, or the wedding will be ruined and the couple’s magical day tarnished forever.

No pressure, right?

Wedding Gifts is a 4,600 word short story, about 15 printed pages. It is set between Books 4 and 5 of the Glimmer Vale Chronicles.

Jared Tolburt twice almost cost Raedrick Baletier and Julian Hinderbrook their lives: once when he turned on them while they were fleeing the Army, and again when he unwittingly led a group of bandits into Glimmer Vale. While fighting off the bandits, Raedrick and Julian found a cryptic, magically protected letter that hinted at the location of a great treasure. Now, with help from Melanie Klemins, Lydelton’s resident mage, Tolburt intends to claim that treasure for his own.

The treasure is hidden far away from Glimmer Vale, and guarded by both physical and magical obstacles. With Raedrick unable to travel due to his wife’s pregnancy and Melanie eager to assist Tolburt in his quest, Julian has to do the last thing he ever wanted: travel with and help the man he trusts least in the world.

Far from their home and beset with dangers of all kinds, Julian, Melanie, and Tolburt will have to depend on each other even to survive, let alone succeed in their quest for The Falconer’s Stairs.

But Tolburt already sold Julian out once when the going got tough. What’s to say he will not do it again?